It is well known in motor vehicles to provide an instrument panel beam extending transversely between the front pillars of an automotive body to provide structural rigidity to the vehicle and to mount interior components using mounting brackets, fasteners and other joining techniques.
Motor vehicles include a plurality of interior components mounted in the forward portion including steering column supports, driver and passenger knee bolsters, vehicle instruments, air bags, etc. The typical motor vehicle instrument panel structure is comprised of a metal beam assembly fastened to and extending between the front pillars of the vehicle. During manufacturing of a vehicle instrument panel structure, the beam is located in a fixture and locating tools are used to accurately and properly position component brackets to be attached to the beam. The components, typically extending from these brackets are located relative to the beam and are typically attached to the beam assembly using a plurality of fasteners. Existing designs also include tubular beams and stamped beams requiring brackets and multiple fasteners to securely fasten components in place along the beam. The location and attachment of component brackets in existing instrument panel structure designs is time consuming, expensive and fairly difficult to adapt to changing designs and alternate vehicle configurations. Such designs, because of the plurality of parts, fasteners and bracket, are also prone to problems caused by vibration, squeaks rattles and dimensional stability.
It is also known in the art to manufacture instrument panel beams from plastic and fiber reinforced plastic materials. Some such designs include pockets adapted to receive various components which are secondarily bonded or fastened therein. The pockets provided in this type design allows for easier location and placement of components however, as is a problem with the metal beams discussed above this type of design is also inflexible. Molds for manufacturing plastic beams are difficult and expensive to change as well as the requirement that each type of beam requires a separate mold.